People on the move: PM+M; Mitchell Consulting Actuaries; Manchester Life; Brown Turner Ross; C4X Discovery Holdings

PM+M, the Blackburn headquartered chartered accountancy, business advisory and wealth management group, has made three promotions across the business.

Lucy O’Gorman, has been part of the company’s Run My Business division – its dedicated fixed fee package covering bookkeeping, accounts, payroll, VAT and tax returns – since 2010 and has now become manager.

She will be responsible for a portfolio of around 150 sole trader, partnership and limited company clients, and will act as line manager for team members running departmental projects.

The Run My Business division has also promoted Sarah Clancey to assistant manager. Her focus will be on building up her client base in the Burnley area.

Clancey currently looks after the firm’s accounting services for a wide range of businesses with an annual turnover of up to £10m in a variety of sectors including retail, telecommunications, healthcare, legal, insurance and the motor industry.

Meanwhile, Ceri Dixon has been promoted to assistant manager in the Corporate Services team. She joined PM+M in June 2015 and will continue to work with a range of clients including charities, property and distribution companies. Her promotion will see her managing audit assignments and corporate advisory projects as well as being the line manager for team members.

Jane Parry – managing partner of PM+M – added: “Each of these promotions is thoroughly deserved and we are always delighted when we are able to recognise the achievements and talents of our colleagues.”

L-R Sarah Clancey, Ceri Dixon and Lucy O’Gorman

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MITCHELL Consulting Actuaries – the Manchester-based independent corporate pensions and actuarial firm – has appointed Nigel Jones as its chief executive.

In his new expanded role, Jones will focus on delivery of the firm’s strategic goals and growing market share as well as continuing in his role as director and head of corporate strategy for the company and as a director for sister company 2020 Trustees.

He said: “The board has recently agreed a challenging three-year strategic plan which will ensure we fully maximise the potential of our business and raise its profile at a national level.

“Core to this, and my primary mandate going forward, is to ensure that we continue to exceed the expectations of our clients by providing truly innovative, cost effective and high-quality services.”

Jones joined Mitchell Consulting in 2009. He is the current president of the North West Actuarial Society and has more than 20 years’ experience in the pensions industry having provided advice as Actuary to schemes ranging from under £10mi to over £1bn in asset size.

He continues in his position as a director of 2020 Trustees, a sister company of Mitchell Consulting, which itself has seen significant short-term growth and is keen to build on the growing success of the two businesses.

He concludes: “Mitchell Consulting is in a great position to move forward in 2017.  We have expanded both our client and staff base and we are planning a number of exciting new initiatives which will continue to cement our place in the corporate pensions market.”

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MANCHESTER Life, the residential property development company owned by the Abu Dhabi United Group, has appointed Jennifer Bendik as head of lettings to oversee more than 860 rental homes across four developments in Ancoats and New Islington, with Cotton Field Wharf being the first to welcome tenants from autumn 2017.
Bendik brings more than 30 years of property development and housing experience to Manchester Life, with her most recent position as Director of Operations at a large North West sales and lettings agency.
Manchester Life Development Company in partnership with Manchester City Council is currently developing more than 1,000 predominantly privately rented homes in Ancoats and New Islington, helping to fulfil the demand for high quality residential accommodation, contributing to the emergence of Ancoats and New Islington as vibrant and desirable neighbourhoods in a central location.  
Bendik said: “Manchester Life is creating an approach to rental homes that does not currently exist in our city; it is a hugely exciting challenge to be part of, and I am confident that it is going to be a real boost for Ancoats and New Islington.
“Our rental offering has evolved from a combination of carefully listening to what the rental market needs, and what makes for a great rental experience, and then globally benchmarking against the very best in rental home design and customer experience from cities with highly sophisticated rental markets.”
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MERSEYSIDE law firm Brown Turner Ross has appointed Patricia Hitchen as director.
 
Hitchen, who has extensive experience in personal injury claims, joined the company in 2014 and will lead the personal injury department.

Previous roles employers include GT Law Solicitors, Handley Law, The Paul Rooney Partnership and Hill Dickinson. Prior to a career in law, Hitchen spent 13 years as a police officer with Merseyside Police.
Hitchen, who has 12 years’ experience as a legal practitioner, only recently qualified as a personal injury solicitor in July 2016, after qualifying at Chester College of Law in her spare time.

She self-funded the course without telling the firm and surprised colleagues with her newly certified status upon return from annual leave. Prior to this, she became a CILEx chartered legal executive in 2014.
Following a route less ordinary to land the top job, Hitchen gained a degree at Liverpool John Moores University and Legal Practitioners Course at Chester College of Law, while her three children were small. Family life and career commitments took hold and Patricia decided to gain her qualified status this year, after her middle child had settled into her first year at university.  
 
Dave Bushell, managing director of Brown Turner Ross Solicitors, said: “This is a key appointment for Brown Turner Ross that fits in with our strategy to have an innovative and robust board of directors that reflects the increased caseload of the company.
“Patricia was invited to become a director, she has gone above and beyond in demonstrating her commitment to her profession and her outstanding skills and experience will be invaluable in shaping the future of the firm.”
 
Hitchen said: “Exciting times lie ahead for Brown Turner Ross; the firm is growing and I can make a massive impact with the knowledge gained during my legal career.
“Now that my children are older, I decided to bite the bullet, gain my solicitor status and finish what I had started all those years ago when my youngest child was two years old. This has been one of the best decisions I have made, as I am now looking forward to being an instrumental force in developing the personal injury department at Brown Turner Ross.”
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MANCHESTER-based drug discovery company C4X Discovery Holdings has announced that chief financial officer Brad Hoy and chief scientific officer Dr Craig Fox are to join the board of directors immediately.
Hoy, 53, has been appointed permanent CFO of the AIM-listed company following a period as interim CFO.
He has more than 20 years’ experience in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries and has held a number of senior financial and general management positions in both the UK and US

Previously, he was chief financial officer of Plethora Solutions Holdings, an AIM-listed specialty pharmaceutical company, chief executive officer of Xcellsyz, a UK venture capital-backed life science company, and senior director of Geron Corporation’s stem-cell focused UK subsidiary.

Hoy is a co-founder of Seven Hills Venture Partners, a life sciences advisory firm, and currently serves on the board of directors for e-Therapeutics plc.
Fox, 41, joined C4X in September 2015 and is an experienced drug-discovery biologist, having worked on and managed a number of discovery and development projects during the past 18 years from initial target selection through to clinical studies.

Prior to joining C4X, he was director of respiratory research at Pulmagen Therapeutics, a clinical stage company spun out of Argenta in 2010.

At Pulmagen, Fox managed several of its collaborations and partnerships, including those with AstraZeneca, Chiesi, Domantis, Dr Reddy’s, Skyepharma and Teijin Pharma. He was part of the Etiologics Team that merged with Argenta Discovery in 2004 and, prior to that, he worked for Bayer as a Research Scientist.

Dr Clive Dix, CEO of C4X Discovery, said: “We are delighted to have these two highly experienced professionals join our Board. The wealth of knowledge and experience they bring to the Company and its Board will make a significant contribution to executing our strategic plan of becoming the world’s most productive drug discovery engine.”